Edinburgh charity Social Bite to double free lunch production after massive demand

Social Bite has announced it is to double production of free packed lunches for vulnerable Scots as demand soars during the coronavirus lockdown.
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Last week, the charity handed out 15,000 food packs to vulnerable communities around Scotland, consisting of a sandwich, a piece of fruit, crisps and a drink.

Now, it intends to scale up production to 30,000 a week.

Social Bite, which runs a network of social enterprise cafes – two in the Capital, two in Glasgow and one in Aberdeen – as well as a corporate catering business, are giving the packed lunches to homeless people as well as those who are struggling financially.

The staff at Social Bite are working hard to help people in vulnerable communitiesThe staff at Social Bite are working hard to help people in vulnerable communities
The staff at Social Bite are working hard to help people in vulnerable communities
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Josh Littlejohn,co-founder of the charity, warned food poverty could quickly become one of the most difficult issues of the Covid-19 epidemic.

He said: “We are seeing more people in an increasingly desperate situation as the crisis deepens.

“Obviously homeless people can’t easily self-isolate or stock up cupboards and fridges and many of the services they rely on have closed down.

“So this demographic of people really need our support.”

Mr Littlejohn added: “But wider than homelessness, we are seeing an increase in families who were reliant on free school meals and thousands of people being made redundant with no savings and no immediate access to benefits.

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“Food poverty will be one of the biggest challenges for many people over the period of this crisis.”

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